TIRANA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Albanian parliament on Thursday approved some amendments to the law on the minority protection under which, Albania officially recognizes the Bulgarian community.
The official position of Tirana until few weeks ago was that the Bulgarians living in Albania for centuries had no special status.
But, following such statements, the Bulgarian community living here reacted, seeking the authorities to recognize them as another minority group.
Even the European Parliament has called for the ethnicity of the Bulgarians living in Albania's Prespa, Golloborda and Gora to be recognized.
Bulgarian people in Albania is estimated at some 50,000 people.
In September, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov told his Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, that he expected the new law to contain texts that would protect the rights of the Bulgarian minority in the country.
Now that Albania recognized Bulgarian minority, the number of recognized minorities becomes 9: Greek, Macedonian, Wallachian, Montenegrin, Serb, Roma, Egyptian, Bosnian and Bulgarian.
